The place hosting the assembly will be Mezcal squat, a huge building, once part of the former psychiatric hospital complex inside the Certosa park of Collegno, in the suburbs of Turin (on the way to the Susa Valley). When it was occupied, in summer 2006, after different attempts to occupy other houses, the place was abandoned. Lots of renovation works turned the structure into a good place to live in. Currently, there are about ten people living there: apart from living spaces and the kitchen, in the house there’s a workshop, a concert hall and in the near future there will be a big indoor oven (already under construction) and a gym; there is a garden in the backyard and the desire to build another one in the public park. Every Wednesday evening the squat hosts a dinner in which everyone brings something and all is shared, without using money.

The assembly will be organized by people from Turin, as well as from the mountains and countryside nearby (and maybe from other cities), with the help of Nautilus, a 30 years-old collective gravitating around the occupations and d.i.y. scene (mostly, but not only, no copyright books), supporting and creating self-management outside and against the state and the economy. During these 10 days we will try to create a cosy situation for the comrades coming from far away, providing warm places to sleep and food; at the same time we invite the participants to contribute in any way they can. For a better organization it is important to let us know how many people are coming, how long they will stay (for example, arriving for Reclaim the Seeds assembly or the week later), whether they have specific needs or desires.

Our idea is to contact the different situations and individuals we know, inviting them to the Seed Swap organized every February by and at Mezcal (this will take place on Sunday, 4th March, the last weekend) and to the other events that will take place. It will be an opportunity to exchange experiences and ideas, to cross paths with those who have chosen to
abandon the cities, trying to produce for self-sufficiency and the city gardeners that in these last few years cultivated some community gardens in Turin.

At the end, as mentioned above, we will “introduce” RtF to the Susa valley; we will definitely organize an evening to meet the NO TAV movement in the valley: the rest will be decided on the spot by the assembly. Trying to describe this struggle, its history and the present situation in this brief text is very complex, if not impossible, and unfortunately there isn’t much written material available in other languages. What we can say is that this is a crucial moment: after 20 years of struggle which have prevented the start of the construction works (to tell the truth, the preliminary works haven’t started yet), the State, using riot police and army units, has conquered a piece of valley where the first part of the main tunnel under the Alps (more than
50 km long) is supposed to start, so it’s possible that during the gathering of RtF, the situation will be hot.

To contact us, please write an e-mail to:

mezcal2012@libero.it

or letters to:

Mezcal Squat: Corso Pastrengo – Parco della Certosa, 10093 Collegno (Torino), Italy

NAUTILUS: CP 1311 – 10100 Torino, Italy (see http://nautilus.ecn.org )

Please note:

There will also be a “Reclaim the Seeds” Gathering for the Working Group taking place from: 24th to 28th of February 2012

For more information: http://www.reclaimthefields.org/